With Brown out, Republicans scrambling for Senate candidate

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
02/02/2013 06:35:51 AM EST

By Michael Norton and Andy Metzger

State House News Service

BOSTON -- Former Sen. Scott Brown will not run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated Friday by Sen. John Kerry, citing the rigors of a third Senate campaign in four years and the prospect of returning to a bitterly divided Congress.

Without elaborating on his future political or professional plans, Brown also said in a statement that running for Senate was "not the only way for me to advance the ideals and causes that matter most to me."

Many Republican Party leaders had seen Brown as their best hope for winning the seat and Brown's announcement leaves the party and its new chairwoman, former Brown campaign aide Kirsten Hughes, scrambling for a candidate.

Brown was elected to the Senate in a January 2010 special election, defeating Attorney General Martha Coakley. Sen. Elizabeth Warren took office this month after defeating Brown in November's election.

Reps. Edward Markey of Malden and Stephen Lynch of South Boston are vying for the Democratic nomination in the special election and party candidates must turn in 10,000 signatures to local election officials by Feb. 27.

The primary is scheduled for April 30 with the special election to be held on June 25.

Gov. Deval Patrick this week named his former chief of staff William "Mo" Cowan to serve as interim senator during the campaign and until voters elect a senator in June.

The names of former Gov. William Weld and former Lt.

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Gov. Kerry Healey have been cast about as possible Senate contenders and it's possible that, as Brown did in 2009, one of the roughly two dozen Republican members of the Legislature could take a shot at the special, which would not require them to forfeit their current jobs.

Former Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, who lost a close congressional race against U.S. Rep. John Tierney last fall, announced Friday evening he is considering running for Senate.

Former Gov. Jane Swift ruled out any possibility of her running, and said she is moving to Vermont.

"I'm very happy at my job," said Swift, who is CEO of Middlebury Interactive Languages in Vermont, and also lectures at Williams College.

Brown's exit creates possibilities for lesser-known candidates.

"I think this sort of makes it wide open," Swift said. "If it was April, close to April 1, I could say I was going to run and do an April Fool's joke on my husband, but I'm not sure my marriage would survive it."

Swift said, "I think Bill Weld or Kerry Healey will make very strong candidates. I think Scott would have been the strongest candidate, but I, as someone who's often struggled with making decisions about balancing work with family, I respect the decision that he made."

Swift said that Rep. Dan Winslow, R-Norfolk, is "a pretty interesting possibility" and questioned the potential of any of former Gov. Mitt Romney's sons running. Former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez has also been mentioned in some circles.

"They would have some name recognition, and a fundraising operation," said Swift. "I assume that would only happen if Kerry Healey decided not to run."

The short election cycle will demand an accelerated schedule from anyone who is getting into the race.

"Nobody predicted that Scott was going to win last time. I think that certainly someone who has personal money, but also the proven ability to raise money will have a huge head start, but I think there are a lot of great themes that a moderate Republican can talk about. The economy's still not that strong. I think we're starting to see some of the impact of ObamaCare -- the cost of it on our economy," Swift said.

The following is the full text of Brown's statement:

"Representing Massachusetts in the United States Senate was the greatest privilege of my life, an experience that takes second place only to my marriage to Gail and the birth of our daughters. It was a higher honor than I had ever expected, and in the time given to me I always tried to make the most of it.

When I was first sent to the Senate in early 2010, it wasn't exactly welcome news for President Obama or many other Democrats. Yet among my best memories from those three years in office are visits to the White House to see the president sign into law bills that I had sponsored...

"...I was not at all certain that a third Senate campaign in less than four years, and the prospect of returning to a Congress even more partisan than the one I left, was really the best way for me to continue in public service at this time. And I know it's not the only way for me to advance the ideals and causes that matter most to me.

That is why I am announcing today that I will not be a candidate for the United States Senate in the upcoming special election."

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